Report: Chauncey Billups declines assistant coaching offer from Orlando Magic

According to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, former Denver Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups declined an offer from the Orlando Magic to become Frank Vogel’s top assistant coach.

Wojnarowski says the talks were serious, but Billups ultimately declined the offer.

Sources: Orlando made aggressive run to hire Chauncey Billups as Frank Vogel's top assistant, but Billups has declined. Talks were serious.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 22, 2016

Billups has made it known over the years that he has a desire to get back into basketball, but appears to be more interested in a front office gig than a coaching one.

“I’ve always had a passion to run a team, to put together a team,” Billups recently said on Mile High Sports radio. “That’s always been a passion of mine. I think I could do a phenomenal job at that.”

Billups has the pedigree, connections, and basketball acumen to be general manager and common sense would point to Denver, the city that he grew up and gained notoriety in, as the ideal landing spot to begin his front office career.

The only issue is that the Nuggets have an extremely capable GM in Tim Connelly, who has the Nuggets set on the right track back to relevance.

However, as Matt Moore of CBS Sports pointed out earlier this year when rumors originally surfaced that Billups wanted back into the league, there is a scenario out there that could include both Billups and Connelly sharing front office duties that wouldn’t shift course from the direction the Nuggets are headed. In an ideal world, Billups could serve as president of the franchise, with Connelly running the day-to-day operations.

Billups would have major pull with the league’s free agents and would raise the appeal of the Nuggets organization, while Connelly would still be able to craft the roster around the current core in Denver.

Of course, both would have to be on the same page with their vision and long-term plan and I would hate for Denver to shift its current model to incorporate Billups.

Just some food for thought.